Yugoslavia's Liberal Opportunity: British Foreign Policy and the ‘Croatian Spring’, 1968–1974

Abstract

Between 1968 and 1971, Yugoslavia experienced a prolonged series of protests dubbed the ‘Croatian Spring’. Britain was initially concerned that the Soviets would invade Yugoslavia, thereby upsetting the region's geopolitical balance. Protest against Tito's regime had liberal, Marxist and nationalist elements and, although some sympathy in Britain existed with the former in 1968, this gradually changed to fear of separatism, particularly as it was conflated with the memory of the fascist Ustaše regime. That these factors were aligned, however, impeded one of Britain's prime objectives, Yugoslav unity. British foreign policy towards Yugoslavia during this period aptly shows how it acted as a status quo power.